The 6 Best Places to Live in the Miami/South Florida Area
Plus the Pros and Cons Of Moving to South Florida
You you can save yourself a lot of time money and stress by thoroughly researching where to relocate, to prevent an expensive mistake. This is especially true if you are going to be moving long distance to an area with a different climate, housing construction, cost of living, etc., such as South Florida.
There are pros and cons to living anywhere. Places that have more pros than cons, naturally make better places to live. The places that have far more pros than cons make great places to live. Time is life, we only get so much, so why waste life making mistakes?
The Pros/Advantages of Living in the Miami/Southeast Florida Area
- There is a vast job market offering just about any type of position you may be interested in.
- You will be able to find just about any type of recreation, dining, shopping, entertainment or service you could possibly want, with the exception of winter sports involving snow.
- There are some nice beaches in the area.
- You’ll be living in an area where millions of people from other areas spend lots of money to travel to and spend vacation.
The Cons/Negatives of Living in the Miami/Southeast Florida Area
- South Florida is very flat and the elevation of much of it is just a few feet above sea level. This makes the area particularly vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes which can cause storm surge, flooding and other major damage.
- All of Miami and most of developed southeast Florida falls within the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 50 mile Ingestion Exposure Pathway Emergency Planning Zone of The Turkey Point Power Plant Nuclear Generating Station in Homestead Florida, located just below Miami.
- Most of South Florida’s cities and towns have crime rates higher than the national average. Many have crime rates that far higher. Housing in lower crime areas is expensive.
- High humidity can make doing anything outdoors that doesn’t involve water, uncomfortable, for many people for most of the year.
A possible major pro or con depending upon your situation
- In many areas in Southeast Florida, Spanish is widely spoken. In many areas it is the predominately spoken language. If you are fluent in both English and Spanish, as many residents in this area are, this is obviously not a problem. However, if you only speak one of these languages and will have the need to regularly visit areas where the language you know is not spoken, you may find this challenging unless you are willing and able to learn a new language.
Here Are the 6 Top Places to Live in the Miami-South Florida Area For a Better Quality of Life
Please Note: These are also the best suburbs of Miami
In no special order…
#1 Cooper City, Florida
Cooper City is also one of the best places to live in the Miami Southeast Florida area for families
Don’t want to live right near the water or the beach? Cooper City is a town of 33,000 that’s west (away from the coast) from Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood Florida. Student test scores and high school graduation rates here are far higher than Florida’s statewide average. Here you’ll find high a high quality of life and low crime rates of course, that many may also find Cooper City to be be more suited to raising a family or for retirement.
#2 Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne is where 13,000 people are living on an island just a few minutes from downtown Miami, but it has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. Housing here costs about 5 times more than Florida’s average, but the combination of high quality of life and beaches plus island lifestyle, is priceless.
#3 Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
22,000 people live in Sunny Isles Beach which located on a key just off shore from the city of North Miami. Here you can enjoy an island lifestyle where the housing cost is only about twice Florida’s average. That’s a bargain for beaches and high quality of life scores (including low crime rates) in the Miami South Florida area.
#4 Coral Gables, Florida
Coral Gables is also the closest city to Miami on this best places list.
Coral Gables is also one of the best places to live in the Miami Southeast Florida area for families
Coral Gables is another great places to live in South Florida and it’s home to the University of Miami. The are 51,000 people who call this “small city” home. Over 50% of the population here identifies as Latino or Hispanic. Crime rates are very low and student test scores are very high making it an ideal place to raise a family.
#5 Sunset, Florida
Sunset Florida is also one of the best places to live in the Miami Southeast Florida area for families
If you moved to Sunset Florida you too could enjoy high across the board quality of life scores. Well, with the exception of affordability, just like all of our other choices. High student test scores and graduation rates makes Sunset Florida population 17,000 a great “small town” to raise kids in the Miami area.
#6 Kendall, Florida
High school graduation rates, student to teach ratio and student test scores all all better in Kendall, than Florida’s average. It’s also a safer place to live than most. Kendall Florida has a population of 75,000 and still manages to maintain a high overall quality of life which is rare for Florida. Housing costs here are about double Florida’s statewide average.
The 3 Best Neighborhoods in Miami
Miami Florida does not qualify as a best place for any of our lists because crime rates are far higher than the national average. However, if you have a compelling reason to live within the city limits of Miami, these are the neighborhoods that we have determined to have the highest quality of life scores, including lower crime rates. In no particular order…
- North Coconut Grove
- South Coconut Grove
- The Uppereast Side
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Ron Stack
- Want to be certain if moving to Florida is right for you or your family? You’ll know after reading the Florida Move Guide.
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